Safety Training at Kidspace
Ah, closure week. After a full summer and thousands of guests, last week gave us an opportunity to catch our breaths, clean up the museum, make those large repairs which were needed, and of course, do our full scale staff safety training extravaganza!
While we conduct safety trainings throughout the year, the training we do during closure week is the mother of all trainings. This year we had over 30 full and part time employees participate in the three-hour training.
To kick off the afternoon, we invited out the Pasadena Fire Department to review with us how to safely and effectively use fire extinguishers, should the need arise. We not only reviewed where and when to use extinguishers, but also had a chance to practice our PASS (Pull, Aim, Squeeze, Sweep) technique with real extinguishers!
Next we headed to our amphitheater for a rousing round of our very own Safety Quiz Show! We reviewed our procedures for lost children and adults, capacities of buildings, what to do if you are injured on the job, how to assist injured guests and a multitude of other safety policies and procedures.
One of the things I love most about safety trainings is all the questions that come up. When people are asking questions, it usually means they are interested in the topic, and often times, a simple question of “how should I handle…” opens up a much larger discussion and both full and part time staff are really proactive in sharing their thoughts and experiences.
After tackling some questions regarding everyday safety stuff, we moved on to review evacuation procedures. Again, presenting the plan of how we are going to do something (i.e. evacuate the gardens) always starts a big discussion. Is the plan realistic? What is the role of staff? How do we address difficult situations, such as a family not wanting to leave or a mom struggling to wrangle her kids, stroller, and bags? Being able to talk through all of these things together helps me refine the written plan as well as helps all us feel more confident in our role in a potential emergency.
We wrapped up the afternoon with a visit from a worker’s safety expert, who came to share some tips about back safety and avoiding slips, trips, and falls. While guest safety is a huge priority for us, so is the safety of our employees. The better care we can take of ourselves, the better able we will be to assist our guests and make every visit to Kidspace a fulfilling, fun, and SAFE experience!
____________________________________________________________________________
Blog Entry By:
Lauren Kaye, Senior Operations Manager, has worked at Kidspace Children’s Museum over four years. Her current focus includes safety, facilities management, exhibits, and technology. Her favorite exhibit at the Museum is the Observation Beehive.